How do I test power supply.

[mikemnf]

I am sure my power supply is the problem, but I don't know if anything else is damaged. A computer we use in our restaurant strictly to send and receive mail as well as make changes to our web site, stopped in the middle of the daily boot and went on to start rebooting, over and over again. I took the computer home to work on it, but it won't turn on at all. I assume it is the power supply. I went to Gerneral Hardware in this forum to see what was being said about power supplies and found out that a failed power supply can cause damage to other components in the computer. Is it a given that I probably have a failed power supply, and that I probably have caused problems with the motherboard or cpu? It is a unit I put together myself from parts I bought here, there, and everywhere. ASUS TUA266 Socket 370 Motherboard, ALi Alladin Pro 5 Chipset, PIII Tualatin 1.13MHz CPU, Sparkle ATX 300GT power supply, Diamond Max 60 gig HDD, 512 DDR RAM (266), Creative Live sound card, forget what graphics card I used but believe it is a basic ATI pci card. I put this together a few years ago, and have had trouble free service from it up until now. It is shutdown every night , and rebooted every morning. Is there a way to test the power supply without taking the system apart, or is it an automatic that if there are no lights coming on that it has to be the power supply? I am very loyal to systems that have worked for me, and now have 4 systems I have built over the past 10 yrs, plus a unit I bought off the shelf. I would like to get this unit back in service.

Mike

[doctorgonzo]

You can either buy a tester or see this: http://www.duxcw.com/faq/ps/ps4.htm

[pam123]

I don't know about Canadian prices but a power supply tester (20 pin for your ATX 1.0 power supply) can be picked up at any US Radio Shack for $10 or less.
If the power supply passes then it's likely the motherboard.
I don't remember if Asus ever had the problem with leaking capacitors that some of the other manufacturers did but that motherboard is in the right age range for the problem and if the board is shot the power supply would also seem to be dead.

[melopll]

@MIKEMNF

I know that could be risky, but have You tried the PSU with another mobo? Any voltage measurement with a multimeter?

[mikemnf]

Thank you to everyone. I am going to try the safest route first, which to me will be to isolate the power suppy and and short out the contact normally on pins 14 and 15. I have actually discovered that the fan on the cpu is coated with dust and grease, which could indicate a cpu meltdown!!! Will post an answer when I get back home to try things out.

Mike

[glc]

I was going to suggest overheating as being more likely than a PSU failure - Sparkles are very reliable units. Take the whole computer outside and blast all the dust out of everything including the power supply with compressed air. The only precaution you need to take is use coffee stir sticks to keep the fans from spinning when you blast them.

[mikemnf]

The fan blades are coated with a very thin layer of grease from the air in the restaurant, which has dusty fuzz stuck to it. I really am not surprised. It is impossible to not have a certain ammount of grease floating in the air, especially when there are a lot of flambes being done. What I will do is take the fan off the cpu and try to clean it , but failing that it is not a big deal buying another one. The rest of the components are clean, which does surprise me. I figured they would also be dirty once I saw the fan blades. The computer has been in the restaurant for 18 mos., so I guess some precautions can be taken to filter the air before it makes it to the inside of the tower. Probably some sort of a box with another larger fan sucking air through a filter. It wouldn't hurt if the air were being drawn from outside, as long as it wasn't too cold. Now this is where a larger tower would come in handy. Put the mid tower inside a full sized tower with the front customised to give access to the front of the mid tower.

Mike

[glc]

You may need to use some kind of degreasing process - grease is an insulator and the heat isn't being drawn out efficiently. Simple Green works very well, follow with a distilled water rinse, thorough drying, and maybe even an alcohol bath.

[mikemnf]

Thanks again. I just realised I will have to clean the cpu, not just the fan. Yes, I will use the system glc mentioned above.

Mike

[mikemnf]

I have removed the power supply, which is fairly dirty on the fan blades, but turn freely by hand, and have used a jumper across pins 14, and 15 as directed in your link. Nothing. Not a gig. I am assuming the power supply is dead.

Mike

[glc]

To confirm, the jumper goes from the green wire to a black wire - and you should have one Molex connected to something to provide a load.

[mikemnf]

GLC and others,

I replaced the power supply, and the fan and heatsinik with new parts. The computer worked fine for me in the house and when I put it back into the restaurant, except for one time when it shut down on it's own. That was the second day back, but no problems since.

Thank You everyone,
Mike

PS Ihave a new problem with brand new system working slow. See posting under Overclocking.